


The Strange Case of the Disappearance of Alice Liddell

by karrenia_rune



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Genre: Gen, Promptfic, comm:50scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-04
Updated: 2011-07-04
Packaged: 2017-10-21 00:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/219097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A local detective, young but with ambitions, and seeking to make a name for himself, approaches the Liddell family in the wake of Alice's disappearance. Unfortunately, he more over-eager and well-intentioned than successful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Strange Case of the Disappearance of Alice Liddell

Disclaimer: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are the creations of Lewis Carroll; and as such, do not belong to me. I am only 'borrowing' them for the purposes of the story. I claim only the words...."

 

"The Strange Case of the Disappearance of Alice Liddell" by karrenia

With his bowler hat sitting at a determined slant atop his head the Inspector General marched up the lane bordering the stream that ran along the edge of the Liddell family estate.  
The sun was high in the sky when he had got the call to come out. Tucked under his arm was a leather briefcase containing documents relevant to the case.

Mr. Tippins was not entirely sanguine in his own mind that the little girl in question had not simply played a trick and had hidden herself away, yet, he with a certain sense of duty he felt obligated to investigate all angles of the matter with his customary throughness and decorum.

He walked up the tiled pathway and nodded a greeting to the gardener and other folk who were up and about their daily chores. Upon reaching the door of the house he reached over and rang the doorbell, stepping back and reaching up to correct the lay of his bowler hat.  
Five minutes later the door was opened and a stern-looking matron, obviously the governess appeared, “Yes, what do you want?" she asked.

"Madame, I am Inspector Keith Tippins, of the Inspector General Office," he paused to reach into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out his card and then handed it the governess,"  
My card," he added.

"Allow me to get straight to the point," he said. "It is our understanding that someone at this residence filed a missing persons' report, and I am here to investigate. Might I ask to speak with the master or mistress of the household?"

"That's all well and good, Mr. Tippins, was it?" the governess, but I assure you, you're wasting your time. We're a proper and respectable household. I shan't tolerate any shenanigans hereabouts, if you understand me properly.

"Indeed, Madame," Mr. Tippins replied," however, I must insist."

"What's going on over there, Eleanor?" a woman's voice inquired.

"Mistress," the governess replied as the woman came over to the foyer in a rustle of lace and petticoats.

"This is Inspector Tippins, says he's here to investigate a disappearance."

"That's correct, Madame."

"You are Mrs. Liddell?"

"I am," she replied.

"Forgive me if am being presumtous for asking," Tippins added. "You have three daughters?"

"Yes."

"The caller reported that your youngest, was missing. Has anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary occur within the last seventy two hours." Tippins offered both women slightly off-kilter but meant to be reassuring smile, "That is the usual interval we take be responding to a missing persons report; you understand, it's merely standard procedure."

"Of course," Mrs. Liddell replied, "Might we adjoin to the parlor, I would like to put this business behind to rest once and for all."

"An excellent suggestion," Eleanor replied as she shut the door and curtsied.

"Oh, and Eleanor tell the head cook to have a tea brought into the parlor along with those cakes I do so adore; talking is such thirsty work,' she added.  
Eleanor turned to and asked Mr. Tippins, "Will you have any tea, Sir?"

"If it is not too much trouble, I would love some coffee," he replied.

"Of course," Eleanor replied.

"Eleanor, dear, after that, please join us ," Mrs. Liddell added over her shoulder as she led the way to the parlor with Mr. Tippins following along in her wake.  
***  
Ten minutes later seated on couch across from Mrs. Liddell who sat in chair, sipping her tea, Mr. Tippins felt a little bit out of his depth. No stranger to the fairer sex, Mrs. Liddell was the kind of woman that made him feel well, not nervous, but uncertain of his place. The mother of three girls, one still in grammar school, the oldest just turned thirteen or fourteen years old, still Mrs. Liddell was quite beautiful.

"Well," she said. "Shall we begin."

"To be honest, I am not certain where to begin."

"Begin at the beginning, go through the middle and stop when you come to the ending," she stated, as if there were no possible way he could dispute with that irrefutable logic.

"The facts of the case are these: Three days ago, a call was placed to our office to wit, that Alice Pleasance Liddell, vanished without a trace, in broad daylight.

"My little girl, vanished without a trace?" Mrs. Liddell sniffed, "Preposterous!"

"Why just yesterday she was out with my Alissa, reading books by the riverbank."

"I know one certain way to end this, call her in and ask her where she was at this time yesterday."

"Eleanor, bring Alice here, at once."

Eleanor nodded. "At once, Madame."

Fifteen minutes later Eleanor returned. "She is nowhere to be found on the premises, Madame, and I searched all of her known haunts, and sent the butler out to make rounds of the lawn. I even asked Mistress Alissa and Mistress Arabella."

"She could simply be playing at hide-and seek," Mrs. Liddell mused as if to herself.

"Mr. Tippins, may I ask who filed the missing persons report?" asked Eleanor.

"Her older sister, Mistress Alissa."

"There you are, mystery solved."


End file.
